I’m excited to introduce a new contributor to Grist’s food section: Daniel Klein, a chef, activist, and filmmaker living in Minneapolis. He’s cooked in the restaurants of Thomas Keller, Fergus Henderson, and Tom Colicchio and now holds “harvest dinners” at his house. He’s also directed, filmed, edited, and produced projects on various issues including oil politics and the development industry in Africa (most recently What Are We Doing Here? which has aired on TV, in theaters, and at festivals worldwide).

Since March, Daniel has been documenting his culinary, agricultural, and hunting adventures on film in a series called The Perennial Plate, which he’ll be sharing with Grist. Long winters, urban gardens, ice fishing, visits to slaughterhouses, and foraging for wild edibles all are ingredients for Daniel’s video feasts, set to a seriously awesome raucous soundtrack.